This invention relates to a free-flowing, stable, dry nut product which has functional food ingredient characteristics. More specifically, this invention relates to a crystalline sugar product which incorporates nuts and to a process for making the crystalline sugar product incorporating nuts.
Nuts have pleasant aromas and flavors, crunch texture, and high energy and protein food value. Accordingly, nuts are popular as foodstuffs. Food producers and processors have long utilized nuts in food products. Such products range from confections, bakery products, snack items, breakfast cereals to protein foods.
Nuts, such as peanuts, walnuts and pecans, have a very high oil content, ranging from 40% to 60% by weight. Ground or pulverized nuts have high susceptibility to oxidation or rancidity during storage. However, on separation of the oil from the ground nut product, the nut flavor is associated more with the oil rather than with the meal. Consequently, defatted nut flour meal is unacceptable in most formulations. Due to the oily, creamy or buttery texture of ground or pulverized nuts, such nut product also has poor flow characteristics, which will adversely affect the flow characteristics of any dry mix into which it is incorporated, creating problems with handling and packaging, in addition to the storage problem. Additionally, ground or pulverized nuts are not readily dispersible in liquids, such as water.
Various types of dehydration processes, such as drum drying and spray drying, have been evaluated for use on nuts. Experimental studies show the technical feasibility of preparing dry nut powders using whey or non-fat milk solids, dextrin or starches as carriers. In preparing the powder, the primary intent is to reverse the normal phases of the nut. In its natural state, oil constitutes the continuous phase in the nut, and the non-oil components the discontinuous phase. In drying, nut oil is coated by non-oil components and thus becomes a discontinuous phase. The resulting powder is free-flowing and may be dispersed in dry mixes readily. The resulting nut powder, however, lacks fondant or icing quality or other functional ingredient characteristics. Accordingly, the acceptance in the food industry of such products has been limited to flavorings.
In the manufacture of sugar and sugar products, a process known as transformation is used to convert a sugar syrup into a dry, sugar product. The resulting product is granular, free-flowing, non-caking and is readily dispersed or dissolved in water. The transformation process has been described in: U.S. Pat. No. 3,149,682, Tippens et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,365,331, Miller et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,159,210, Chen et al.; and in co-pending, co-assigned applications entitled "Crystallized, Readily Water-Dispersible Sugar Product," Ser. No. 199,551 filed Oct. 22, 1980 (Chen et al.), now U.S. Pat. No. 4,338,350, and "Crystallized, Readily Water-Dispersible Sugar Product Containing Heat Sensitive, Acid or High-Invert Sugar Substances," Ser. No. 199,553 filed Oct. 22, 1980 (Chen et al.), now U.S. Pat. No. 4,362,757.
In Tippens et al., the method comprises concentrating in sugar syrup to a solids content of about 95-97% by heating the sugar syrup to a temperature of about 250.degree.-265.degree. F., and subjecting the resulting supersaturated sugar syrup to a heat dissipation operation simultaneously with vigorous agitation or impact beating. Such method produces a dry sugar product comprising aggregates of fondant-size (about 3-50 microns) sucrose crystals. Miller et al. describes a similar process in which impact beating is used to crystallize the sugar product from the supersaturated sugar syrup. Both Tippens et al. and Miller et al. disclose the sugar products prepared in accordance with their invention are useful as carriers for additive materials, which may have a food, taste, color or medicinal value, or the like. The food additive may be incorporated at any step in the process, such as during concentration, or by separate blending and mixing operation with the sugar product, depending on the nature of the additive material.
In the Chen et al. applications, the transformation method described is adapted so that a food ingredient is crystallized with the sucrose crystals from a mixture of the sugar syrup and the food ingredient. Accordingly, the processes described in the Chen et al. applications are referred to as "cocrystallization." The resulting products are granular, homogeneous, dry, free-flowing and non-caking. Further, as described in the Chen et al. applications, because the structure of the products is loose, lacy clusters of micro-size sucrose crystals intimately associated with the food ingredient, the products are readily dispersible in water and liquids.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a product which incorporates nuts, which nut-incorporated product is stable and a functional food ingredient.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a nut-incorporated product in dry, granular, free-flowing and non-caking form.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a nut-incorporated product which is readily dispersed in liquid.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a method for preparing a dry, granular, free-flowing and stable product incorporating nuts.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a method for preparing a dry, granular product incorporating nuts which has functional food ingredient characteristics.
These and other objects are accomplished by means of the present invention described below.